What Could Have Been
by Curls101
Summary: When Charles Xavier wakes up, the world has already lost but how did the machines win? This is the story of Aqua, a mutant who's tired of running from the War and starts fighting it! May contain character deaths. Possible ShadowCat, NightWitch and some other couples. (Cover image and X-Men characters belong to the appropriate companies)


_**Hello everybody! This is Curls 101 signing in!  
**_**_I thought that I would start a fic on here and I've been meaning to do this one for a long time! This is set in the alternate world in Wolverine and the X-Men where Prof X wakes up. This is the story of how the X-Men were reduced to nothing and the machines won.  
_**_**Seeing the Wolverine and the X-Men series is not critical but recommended. **_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

I often wonder how many died that day.

The day the humans and the mutants thought war was the answer. Was it hundreds? Millions? Billions? All I remember were the screams, the sirens and the panic. The moment I looked up and saw a giant metal man a hundred times larger than myself. The first Sentinel I ever stood up to. His eyes glowed red, his shadow looming over me. Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better off letting it kill me. Then I would never have seen what little was left when the dust settled.

I didn't really follow the conflict between mutants and humans before the war began. I was a transient and never really stayed in one place for too long. I kept my head down and just focused on my own survival, that was how I'd made it this far. The whole idea of a `home for all mutants` seemed impossible, so I distanced myself from Genosha. I kept up this mask of indifference for a whole year until the MRD started tying the noose around my neck. Apparently, a mutant with complete control of water is a frightening concept.

I'd never really made a name for myself but sometimes you can't stop yourself. If you saw a frightened teenager standing in front of a train, you'd interfere too, wouldn't you? It wasn't my fault the girl died. At least I tried to save her, unlike the person driving the train. He wasn't even going to stop! I guess it was the only piece of Charles Xavier's teachings I had left in me. I had to save those in danger, mutant or not.

Everyone who knew Charles had their stories. He saved people. Pulled them out of the impossible and gave them hope. That's what he did for me. I had nowhere left to run. I'd dragged myself into ruin, hunted by the police and MRD. Just as I was about to make my biggest mistake yet, he found me, talked me down and recruited me. Just like that. I still think the old man was in my head.

Just when I thought I'd have a home, there was the explosion at the institute, the one that left the Professor and Jean Grey M.I.A. That's when I realized that there was no such thing as saviors They are just as mortal as anyone else. I was better off on my own. A year later, I ended up in Genosha being lulled into another false sense of security. I thought I was safe there – but no one was safe from the Sentinels. When they attacked Genosha so many died. More then I could ever count. I took to the water and essentially surfed back to the mainland. It was just another home I'd seen destroyed, it wasn't a big deal, but then the metal men followed. Magneto had changed them. Now, they didn't care who they killed. Nothing and no one was safe. This was how I found myself staring down my first Sentinel. This was when I chose to fight.

Around me, purple beams shot, the sound echoing in my ears. People screamed and ran, thinking it would save them, only to be shot down by the metal army. This was when I stopped running. I summoned up all my strength and pulled all the water I could detect towards me. I propelled myself upwards until I was on eye level with the monster and manipulated the water so it created a blade. With one clean sweep, the monstrosity's head left it's body. I fell to the Earth with a thump and a smile. I had to remind myself that I'd only killed one. One of hundreds. I'd only saved myself.

I ran onto the next street only to see Iceman attacking a Sentinel I ran to help him, only to be blinded by the brightest light I'd ever seen. It came up behind the sentinels attacking each one, destroying each one almost instantly. A building near me collapsed and I was trapped under rubble. When I awoke, everything was different. Everything was lost.


End file.
